Really There?
by Cyanide 6
Summary: For the Xana's Lair challenge. Prompt, Supernatural. "Aelita, don't you see? You already have." She never thought this would happen...


"Hurry up, guys!" Jeremie's frantic voice rang out over the speakers. The young genius was frantically typing on the supercomputer, legs tucked up to avoid having his feet bitten by the swarms of poisonous spiders X.A.N.A had unleashed, possessed, upon the group.

"Hey, we're working on it, Einstein!" Odd called up, blasting a tarantula. "You're not the only one with spider problems!"

"Yeah," Yumi panted. "Only ours are bigger, and a whole lot uglier."

Jeremie glanced down at the swarming mass of bright colors, long hairy legs, and beady bright sets of eight eyes that covered the floor, and were trying to climb up his chair. "Yeah, I don't know about that. Just hurry up!"

"Almost there, Jeremie," Ulrich yelled.

Jeremie bit his lip in worry, as the spiders began descending from the ceiling, trails of web behind them. "Ah!" He gasped, as one bit his hand. He shook his hand, flinging it across the room.

"Right, I'm heading for the tower," Aelita called, and made a break for it.

A few minutes later, she was inside, and the tower had been deactivated.

The preprogrammed return trip ran, rewinding time.

Aelita's eyes flickered open, as she sat up in bed. Her clock read 10:00 AM.

She sat up. _I didn't oversleep, did I?_

She shook herself, remembering the attack. It was still Sunday.

Hopping out of bed she headed out of her room and down the hall to Jeremie's room.

"Hey," she said, entering the room.

Jeremie glanced up at her, frowning. "Hey. Do you mind sending this program to the factory when it finishes downloading? Thanks, I'm gonna run to the factory."

Aelita sighed as he ran off, a slightly perturbed look on his face. "Good morning to you too," she muttered.

After that, she headed down to breakfast, where Odd was shoveling food in his mouth. Aelita stared at the ungodly amount of meat on his place.

"Awful hungry, aren't you?" she asked.

He swallowed hard, before grinning back at her. "Yup. And this just hits the spot!"

Aelita smiled, grabbing some breakfast.

Odd shook his head. "Am I the only one who hates it when X.A.N.A attacks with little animals? There's just something repulsive about those huge swarms, whether they're bees, or spiders, or rats, or birds, or whatever!"

Aelita smiled. "Well, I guess I'm lucky. I haven't had to take the brunt of many of those attacks. I don't even think I was on Earth for some of them."

Odd swallowed another bite. "See, princess? You're lucky. You don't need to risk your life on Earth as much as the rest of us do. We need to take turns on Lyoko and Earth, but you? You just head off to Lyoko, where the worst that can happen is devirtualization! The rest of us need to risk our lives on Earth."

Aelita glanced coolly at him for a second, until it became clear to her that Odd didn't find anything tactless about his comment.

"I thought Jeremie was the lucky one, 'cause he never had to fight on Lyoko."

Odd got a blank look on his face. "Ummmmm… maybe?" He shook his head, and a grin slid on. "Oh, right. Yeah, the both of you are lucky." He stood up, stretching. "Well, I'm off to see Kiwi. The little guy and I need to have a little… conversation, about ripping up my shoes." Odd headed off.

Aelita sighed, evidently irritated.

She was about to head out, when Yumi nearly bowled her over, running into the room.

Yumi groaned. "Ugh. The sun really couldn't be brighter if it tried, could it? I'm gonna need to start wearing sunscreen on my way to school. What's up, princess? You look upset."

Aelita sighed. "Odd," she stated bluntly.

"Well," said Yumi, "I'm gonna head up to Ulrich's room for a sec. Then you wanna head over to the rec room?"

"Sure."

They were greeted in Odd and Ulrich's room by what sounded like demented barking.

"What is Odd doing?" Yumi asked, plainly disgusted by the barking sounds Odd was making to Kiwi.

Ulrich pulled out his earbuds. "Scolding Kiwi. He says it works better when he 'speaks Kiwi's language."

Aelita giggled. "He really is having a conversation with Kiwi."

Yumi wasn't amused. "Well tell him to cut it out!" she snapped. "Ulrich, do you mind if I borrow that book you recommended?"

That afternoon, after Yumi headed back home, Aelita got a call from Jeremie.

"Hey, Aelita! Would you mind heading to the factory? I could use a little help."

Aelita said she'd be there in a minute and headed off.

She found Jeremie pacing in the lab.

"Aelita," he said, frowning slightly, a tired look in his eyes. "Do you mind giving me a hand?" He sighed heavily. "I've been working on this all day. I can't seem to get it to work."

Aelita sat down, as Jeremie explained his problem. Apparently, some of the spiders had X.A.N.A viruses on them, and, though it was rare, Jeremie wanted to make sure the others didn't get any when they were first ambushed by the arachnids. But, unfortunately, the program Aelita had sent to the supercomputer was blocked somehow.

"The thing is," Jeremie said, tiredly, "I really need my specific account logged in on the supercomputer. I have to run back to the school. Wait for my phone call, and then log in my password." He quickly told her the password, before running off.

Aelita sat down in the computer, only to leap up as the earsplitting sound of "BREAK BREAK BREAK DANCE!" seem to roar through the room, masking all other sounds, piercing her ears.

Finally realizing the source of the noise, she snapped open her phone.

"Hey princess!" Odd's overly cheerful voice sounded.

"Odd, you did **not** just change my ringtone to Break break break dance, did you?"

"You like it! It's just for me. I'm trying to find one of the best of your songs to make the ringtone for whenever you call, and Yumi's 'Mystery Girl" for whenever she calls."

"And Jeremie and Ulrich?"

"Eh," Odd paused, thinking. "Jeremie? Meh, I'll probably just make him lecture something. Ulrich I haven't thought of yet. If you ever hear him sing or something, make sure you record it, 'kay?"

"Sure," Aelita sighed back. Just then she got the sound on her phone, signifying another call.

"Gotta go!"

She picked up Jeremie's call. "Ready, Jeremie."

"Good, sign in… now!"

She quickly signed in, and the screen popped up that the account had been successfully loaded.

Once Jeremie arrived back at the factory, he walked up to the keyboard, before cautiously placing his fingers on the board, and typed a few things. A grin spread across his face.

"Great. Now, get the others, and I'll run a few tests on all of us!"

Soon, Aelita had called the others, and they headed straight for the scanner room.

"You head down too, Aelita. I'll run some scans on you guys, before running some on myself. Tell Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi to head in first. Then you."

After the tests were run, a bug popped up on both Yumi and Odd. Aelita headed up to talk to Jeremie as the others headed to bed.

"Well, these probably aren't too serious, they're probably just thing's that'll make virtualization bug up slightly. **You** could handle these."

Aelita gave a slight huff. "Well! I'm glad it's so easy that even **I **could do it!" She turned on her heel. "You know, I think X.A.N.A implanted a tactless bug in you and Odd! I'm heading to bed, good luck with your programs, Jeremie!" She stormed off.

"Wait! Aelita, that's not what I meant! I-please! Wait!" He sighed as the elevator door closed. His eyes dimmed as he turned back to the supercomputer. "These are gonna be a fun few weeks."

Over the next few days, there was no sound from X.A.N.A.

Aelita kept her eyes toned for unusual behavior from her bugged friends. Yumi_ did _seem more irritable than usual, and seemed to be cursing the warmer weather.

Odd was more reckless than usual, and took Kiwi on numerous walks. He was probably just taking advantage of the nice weather.

Jeremie spent most of the time in the factory, skipping classes.

When Aelita confronted him on this, he told her that what turned up on Odd and Yumi turned out to be more serious than he had thought, and that he needed the time.

Aelita told him that he needed his sleep.

Jeremie gave a weary smile. "Don't I know it," he had said. "But this bug is really bad, and it might become permanent if I don't fix it soon."

"What's it do?"

He had only sighed, shaking his head. "I wish I knew."

So Aelita was busy eyeing her friends. Odd seemed incredibly itchy, 'til he finally headed to the nurse.

"What's wrong with him?" Aelita asked.

Ulrich snorted. "Fleas. I'll bet Kiwi gave them to him. Now they're gonna have to clean out the whole room. I'm gonna keep Kiwi at the factory."

"Do you think Jeremie will mind?"

Ulrich frowned for a moment, before shrugging. "Einstein's not gonna let them put Kiwi down. He'll be fine."

"I'm a little worried. He's overworking himself."

Ulrich shrugged and repeated, "He'll be fine."

Aelita brought Kiwi to the factory for a while.

Jeremie seemed irritated by the dog's persistent whining.

"He won't stop whining and barking," Jeremie has said, angrily when Aelita had come to feed him. "How can I spend this time in peace, to get my work done, if he keeps yelping?"

When Aelita brought this up to Odd, he seemed distressed. "He's lonely," Odd said. "He's a social dog, and needs company! Poor digity dog! Do you think you could take him out to play now and then?"

"Odd, he's got fleas! How else do you think they got in your room?"

Odd's eyes lit up. "So **that's **how they got in my room!"

Aelita sighed. "Well, you sure as heck didn't track them in. And I'm not gonna play with him if I don't wanna get them. Heck you're lucky Jeremie's not complaining."

Odd frowned, before sighing. "I'm under supervision. They got rid of the fleas in my room, but Jim's convinced that this has something to do with 'that dog'."

Aelita laughed. "Jim's certainly been paranoid about Kiwi lately. He's trying to get the principle to take action by over exaggerating Kiwi's size and ferocity. Last I heard, there was a 300 lb wolf howling through the grounds."

Odd frowned, worried. "Mmm. I hope they don't find him."

Aelita smiled. "They won't Odd, I'll keep an eye on him."

That evening she headed to see Jeremie.

The young genius glanced up as she walked in.

"Hey," she said. "How's Kiwi.?"

"Asleep," he replied, an exhausted, and slightly sad look on his face.

"What's up? You seem down."

He made an effort to smile. "It's nothing. I've just got a lot of work to do, and little time to do it."

She nodded. "How's your work coming? What kind of spiders were there, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Yellow sacs, Redbacks," he winced "Brazilian Wanderers. The bad type. And lots of them."

"Well, there can't have been too many. Odd and Yumi weren't bitten by any of the really bad ones, were they. They just got X.A.N.A. viruses. Oh! I forgot to ask, how did your scan come out? I… didn't ask. We had argued, and…"

He sighed heavily, turning from her. "I have something, too."

"Is it bad?"

He frowned, debating how to answer. "Depends what you consider bad. It shouldn't hurt my work now, and I suppose, if I don't fix it, it may have long term effects. For my health…" He gave a dry, mirthless laugh, "no. I can safely say this X.A.N.A. virus could never in a thousand years affect me physically. For my mental health, that's the problem. Don't worry, I've almost fixed it."

Aelita smiled, relieved. "Good, I hate to see you work this hard. If there's anything I can do to help…"

He looked over at her. "Can you do me a favor? I need a few things from my room, and from the others' rooms."

Aelita spent the rest of the day running random things from hers and the others' rooms. Really random, like a picture, a book, a ruler… nothing Aelita would have thought was important. Still, Jeremie seemed insistent. A lot of the things were hers, but there were a lot of things taken from Odd and Ulrich's room, and a lot came from Yumi's house.

Yumi finally cornered Aelita on this matter. "Aelita, why do you keep stealing my stuff? My mother's family is coming over, and things keep vanishing! Stupid things, but mom keeps blaming me! The scissors, combs, my books, the _vacuum_? Why do you need these?"

Aelita frowned, sighing. "I don't," she replied.

There was a pause.

"Well then, who does?" Yumi asked.

"Jeremie. It's for the debugging."

Yumi opened her mouth to respond, then change her mind, and closed it, before changing her mind a third time. "Oh. Well, tell him to knock it off! I need this stuff, and what with us trying to fix up the house, and mom always breathing down my neck, I really don't need this!" She sighed. "Why did the Spring have to come," she lamented. "Why couldn't they have stayed in Japan?"

Aelita sighed. While she knew that Yumi had trouble with some of her extended family, Aelita found it hard to sympathize, when she would give anything for family.

"Sorry Yumi. I'll see if he needs anything more, and try to hold back on what we take from you."

Ulrich, walking over after hearing this last part, quickened his pace. "That's _you _taking our stuff? Man, Aelita, I had to retype an entire paper for science, and only got half-credit!"

Aelita frowned. "That was _your _paper? I-I thought it would have been Odd's. Because he's the one with the bug in him."

Ulrich shrugged. "Well, it was mine. Why do you need them anyway?"

"Jeremie needs them for debugging."

Ulrich was about to answer when Aelita's phone rang.

"Aelita, it's Jeremie. I need you guys at the factory, ASAP. X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower."

"Right. Just text Odd, and we'll be on our way."

"You text him," Jeremie said back. "X.A.N.A.'s attacking a program of mine. A really important one." The was a strong note of desperation in Jeremie's voice.

"'Kay. I'll text Odd. We'll be there before you know it."

She snapped her phone shut and glance up at Ulrich and Yumi. "Come on, guys. X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower."

After giving Odd a quick text, the three headed to the factory. They met up with Odd on the way.

Aelita stopped in the lab, to tell Jeremie they were there.

Jeremie had a look of utmost panic on his face. "Aelita, please, hurry."

Aelita turned to go, when she heard a crash. "What was that, Jeremie?"

Jeremie froze, typing so quickly his fingers looked a blur. "X.A.N.A.'s turned the scanners offline. The other three are on Lyoko, but you're stuck here!"

Aelita froze. "You have to fix the scanners."

Jeremie shook his head, still typing frantically. "Can't. By the sounds of it, it would require hands on, and I can't do that."

Aelita frowned. "Why not? You know, ever since the spider attack, you've barely even left this place!"

Jeremie stopped, as the program on the supercomputer beeped affirmative.

"Did you fix the scanners?"

Jeremie shook his head. He turned to Aelita, the look on his face halfway between elated and terrified.

"N-no," he whispered. "I-I've just fixed the X.A.N.A. bug in me."

"Oh. Well. That's good. But shouldn't you fix the scanners."

Jeremie shook his head, the same look on his face. "It doesn't matter now. This is what X.A.N.A. wanted. He wanted to stop this."

"I see. Well, now what? We still need to fix the scanners, so the other three can come back."

Jeremie shook his head again. "You can do that, Aelita."

Aelita stomped her foot. "What is wrong with you? You've been out of it since the spider attack! You ask for weird things! You never leave the factory! You never eat!" Her expression softened. "I'm worried about you, Jeremie. I-I don't want to lose you."

Jeremie looked up at her, tears in his eyes. "Ae-Aelita, don't you see? You already have." He showed his hands out to her. They were covered with tiny bite marks. "From the spiders," he said simply.

Aelita frowned. "B-but… wouldn't they have been gone with the return-trip?"

Jeremie held her eyes, those his seemed to be fading. "Have you noticed that the others haven't ever brought my name up to you? Have you noticed that they haven't seen me since the spider attack?"

Aelita mouthed wordlessly. "Th-the spider attack," she whispered. She frowned. "I-I don't understand. Why are you here?"

Jeremie smiled, sadly. "The virus, Aelita." His voice was far weaker. "It was meant to keep me… here. Forever."

Aelita's eyes welled with tears. This couldn't be happening! "Since the spider attack? But, why? Why couldn't you stay?"

Jeremie frowned. "Would you wish that on me?" She couldn't see him straight in this light.

"Jeremie, I-" a bleeping sound came, indicating the scanners were online.

She glanced back to Jeremie, who met her eyes. His eyes were the only distinct able feature on him, everything seemed to be lost in the darkness of the lab room.

"Only things that mean certain to me… could I touch… And only you could see me, because of what… you remember… I was there for your whole life…" He seemed to take a deep breath, before meeting her eyes, one last time. "A…Aelita. I-I love you. Never forget…"

Aelita stared. "Jeremie!" She ran to his seat, only to find it empty. "Jeremie! Jeremie please, I can't lose you!"

The elevator opened behind her, and Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich stepped out.

"X.A.N.A. deactivated the tower," Ulrich said. "Aelita?"

"J-Jeremie," she sobbed, kneeling in front of the empty chair.

Yumi bit her lip, and ran up beside the grieving pinkette.

Odd sighed, sadly. "I think she'd finally accepted that he's gone," he whispered to Ulrich.

Ulrich nodded, blinking away tears that welled up in his eyes.

Yumi rubbed Aelita's back soothingly. "It's weird, though." She said to the others. "It feels like only now has it sunk in."

Aelita glanced up to stare at the chair, where just moments before he had sat. Left on it was a small pink flower, the same type that he had given her the night she had left the supercomputer. She picked it up, tears running down her face. "Jeremie," she whispered.

The flower never faded or died. It remained with her forever, helping her move on, even after Lyoko.

But his last words would always echo in her head when she looked at it.

_Never forget._


End file.
